60 years ago, the first Russian went into space...

[Archae]

On Sputnik 2.
Laika, a stray dog that "volunteered."

There's been a great deal of disputes about what really happened to Laika once she was launched.

Some reports say she survived, healthy, and then was fed a poisoned meal because there wasn't any way yet to bring the satellite back down safely.
(Took a couple years, but the Russians and the Americans did figure that out.)

Others say the dog died due to the extreme conditions in space, going from super cold to super hot.

Since most or all of those who developed Sputnik have since died, and a lot of records were destroyed, we may never know.

[Madam45for2923]

1. Guess this will become a mythology of some kind.

[Sneederbunk]

2. The US sent up a chimp but got him back.

Sired Republicans until his death.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It's generally acknowledged she overheated

I've never heard the 'poisoned meal' claim before.

From 15 years ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2367681.stm

If you're going to assign nationalities, the first animal in space (assuming no accidental hitchhikers) was American, in 1947 - fruit flies: https://www.universetoday.com/25427/what-was-the-first-animal-in-space/ (and the first primate was American too, in 1948).

[ansible]

4. Soviets were assholes who didn't treat human astronauts any better

There's long been a conspiracy theory that Yuri Gagarin was intentionally killed because he was getting too popular in the USSR. And don't forget what happened to Vladimir Komarov or the crew of Soyuz 11

[ProudLib72]

5. I get really depressed when I think about Laika

You know that one of the scientists brought her home for a little while before she was put on the rocket because he wanted his children to play with her. She was a stray and had never had a family. It's just too sad to contemplate. And the soviets made all sorts of memorials to her, posters and stamps. I bet she would have preferred being adopted and living out her natural life.